From manuscript to finished book
We lay out and format your manuscript for print and ebook: contents, chapter openers, headers and page numbers, with images, tables and notes placed. You get a print-ready interior PDF set to your printer's size, and ebook files for Kindle and other stores.
Set for reading, page after page
Good book layout design goes unnoticed: the reader follows the text and the page stays out of the way. That comes from careful typesetting, small decisions held consistently across every page: margins, line length, spacing, where chapters open and how images, tables and notes sit beside the text.
The page, measured
| Element | Setting |
|---|---|
| Body text | 10 to 12 points in print, with line spacing at 120 to 145% of the size |
| Line length | 45 to 90 characters a line, spaces included |
| Margins | Extra room on the inner edge for the binding, generous space at the outer edge and foot |
| Running heads and page numbers | Book or chapter title at the top, numbers placed for quick finding |
| Chapter openers | A fresh page, often a right-hand one, with a display heading |
Type ranges from Practical Typography by Matthew Butterick.
From title page to index
- Front matter: half title, title page, copyright page, dedication, contents, foreword or preface.
- Body: chapters and parts, with images, tables, charts and notes placed where the text refers to them.
- Back matter: acknowledgements, appendices, notes, bibliography, index and the author’s bio.
Novels and memoirs need calm, even pages; textbooks and manuals need clear heading levels, numbered figures and cross-references; children’s books and cookbooks are built around their pictures.
Print and ebook from one manuscript
A print-ready book design is a PDF at your printer’s trim size, such as 5 × 8, 5.5 × 8.5 or 6 × 9 inches, or A5, with fonts embedded and images at 300 ppi. Ebook formatting produces a reflowable EPUB, where text resizes to each reader’s screen; picture-led books such as children’s books and cookbooks can go out as fixed-layout files. Kindle Direct Publishing accepts EPUB, Word and its own KPF files (KDP).
The editable source files come too, so a second edition or a correction starts from the finished book. Covers are designed through Book covers, and magazines and reports through Editorial design.
Included
- Novels, memoirs and poetry
- Textbooks, guides and manuals
- Children's books and cookbooks
- Contents, chapter openers, headers and page numbers
- Images, tables, charts and notes placed
- Print-ready interior PDF to your printer's size
- Ebook files for Kindle and other stores
- Editable source files
